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justletmeramble1701 · 2 months

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Has anyone talked about how each of the three specials represents the three eras if NuWho (as in the three showrunners)?

The Star Beast felt like a classic Russel T Davis era introduction. The doctor disrupts the companion's boring domestic life, introducing them to a new, exciting, and very dangerous life. While, yes, this is the story of most NuWho companions, but Russell's version focused on how boring mundanity is (his companions are thrill seekers, especially Rose and Donna) and the companion's familiar life, which this episode does with the reintroduction of the Noble's.

It also has a "Davis-ex-machina", but all three episodes have that, so I'm not gonna mention it.

Wild Blue Yonder felt like a Moffat idea box (a dark fairy tale/cosmic horror). High concept scares or ideas that force the Doctor to drop his mask and confront truths about himself. I'm specifically thinking of series 6, where The Doctor relearns responsibility by the strange and usually terrifying situations he falls into, dragging his companions along for the ride. In this story, the Doctor is reminded how beaten down they are, setting us up for the conclusion in the finally. It's basically this Doctor's "The God Complex"! While this is how the franchise does character development, it feels uniquely Moffat because of its horror influence (its "Alien" and "The Thing") and the level at which it explains itself (it explains as much as it needs to have a monster with a gimmick, but not too much that they stop being scary - and also in a way that confuses most people).

It also has seemingly innocuous lines that are actually horrifying in context. "My arms are too long..." feels so much like "Are you my mummy," "Don't blink," and "Who turned out the lights," but it lacks the ability to be repeated more than once, so it can't become the quote for the creature. Instead of a singular quote, the episode goes for a series of chilling one-liners ("Oh, we get hungry, don't we..." being a great example).

The Giggle had that late Chibnall charm. Bringing back past elements in highly action-packed finales or specials to attempt to excite or "wow" the audience. While it pulls things out of nowhere to keep the plot going, you don't care because of how much fun you are having! I was specifically thinking about "The Power of the Doctor" while watching it. Half a "Flux" worth of ideas crammed into an episode, but with just enough fun, character, and heart that you allow it to do whatever. Let the episode drive you in whichever direction it needs to go to reach the destination, trusting that it won't get lost or crash. While this is, basically, the concept of the show (remember, we are watching a walking deus ex machina in their magic plot generating box, waiving their magic wand around until it is time for them to solve the problem), it feels like Chibnall because of how compact it is. Like I said, this has enough ideas that it could have been all three specials.

The thing that sets these three specials apart from the last three eras is the power dynamic between the Doctor and their companion. 14 and Donna are equals. While Donna is being reintroduced to the extraordinary, 14 is being reintroduced to the mundane. While Donna is trying to escape from the lovecraftian creature they've encountered, the Doctor is right beside her, scared of what they shouldn't comprehend (the episode even punishing them for their comprehension). While Donna is being toyed with by a dark god, the laws of reality failing her, the Doctor is facing the same, at the wim of an entity that operates by a different set of rules. The Doctor and their companion, their friend, is finally operating on the same playing field as them, which means that, by extension, so are we.

Donna, like all companions, represents the audience, but, in these stories, she specifically represents the fans of the last 20 of Doctor Who. The ones that grew up watching NuWho. We are older now, still as loud and snarky as ever, but we are adults now. Just like Donna, we have lives, responsibilities. We can't experience the world (or the program) the way we once did. Even though the adventures never truly end, it is our turn to join the previous generation (reprented by Mel) watch the next batch of whovians discover this exciting universe for the first time, our Doctor by our side.

This was the best conclusion to NuWho that we could've hoped for!

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regenderate · 1 year

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honestly i feel like people focus on their personal least favorite showrunner being racist/sexist so that they don't have to reckon with the whole entire show being racist/sexist

#lifeblogs #like. every new who showrunner has written racist/sexist things #i'm sure classic who showrunners have too i just haven't seen a ton of it #ALTHOUGH ACE DOES STRAIGHT-UP USE A RACIAL SLUR AT ONE POINT. LIKE.#but it's like. well it's easier to demonize one guy than to admit that the show you like is racist and sexist #even the conceit of like. the doctor often being an older man and traveling with a younger woman #is a lot #and like. yeah it's also the starting point of possibly my favorite ship of all time (doctorrose)#but. the convention is a little weird!#and not every doctor/companion dynamic is like that but it is still baked into perception of the show #there's constantly weird colonialism #shoutout to when yaz is all 'we really do need to return this' and jericho is all 'IT'S A DISCOVERY' and they just never address THAT #but like. there are lots of points like that #like lots of the ethos of the time travel too can start to feel imperialist. or at least it does to me #especially in rtd era? but i don't feel educated enough to talk more about it #anyway. it's possible the show just sucks on some levels.#that's. okay.

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intuitive-revelations · 1 month

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While I've got critiques of a few choices (eg. bigeneration, the Season One reset), one thing I've got to commend RTD for is that the story arc of things getting "more supernatural" / the universe shifting from sci-fi to fantasy is actually a pretty perfect way of continuing the shows overall myth arcs without actually requiring knowing all the backstory.

Not only does this follow on from the Time Lords currently being gone again (which itself was kind of built up from the previous Gallifrey arcs and the Master's character development), but also is more or less exactly what the Ravagers wanted to do in Flux. They wanted to undo the Anchoring of the Thread, recontexualised in terms of the Division's universal interferenc. While time and its laws have somewhat stabilised for now, we are indeed now seeing Rassilon's laws of rationality starting to collapse. I would strongly argue this started even before the 60th anniversary, between the time loop in Eve of the Daleks and the constellations literally rearranging themselves in the sky in Legend of the Sea Devils.

Even outside of the shows main arcs, New Who has already dipped its toes into the concept that there are older creatures which don't necessarily run on science in the same way as everything else, or that are from outside the universe / incompatible with it. Primary examples being the Carrionites, Racnoss, the Beast and Abaddon, Weeping Angels, Solitract, arguably even The Timeless Child. The Dark Times have also been prominantly featured in stuff like the Time Lord Victorious series and Titan Comics.

We've also being seeing entities like Eternals gradually returning (Zellin, Rakaya, maybe Time) who were originally established as leaving the universe in the wake of the Time War in RTD's Series 1 backstory in the DW Annuals. We've even seen quite significant emphasis put on the Sisterhood of Karn and their connection to Gallifrey, something primarily developed in the EU with the Pythia lore, which also links into the likes of the Visionary in The End of Time.

All this being said, none of this backstory is (for now) important for new viewers to know. All they need to know is that Fourteen fucked up in Wild Blue Yonder, and now things which were once outside the universe, like the Toymaker, are starting to leak into it. They don't need to know, for example, that the TARDIS may only have been able to access edge of universe thanks to the scale of the Flux's destruction.

Ultimately this feels a lot like his approach with the Time War. While it was a logical conclusion to the classic series (hence why we get so many time wars / destructions of Gallifrey in the EU), with Genesis, Revelation and Remembrance of the Daleks all particularly serving as build up for a Dalek attack on Gallifrey, and indeed were all included in said prior-mentioned DW Annual articles along with the tension de-escalating 'Act of Master Restitution', none of that was important for new viewers in 2005 to know.

This being said, I do suspect some past context will return in the future, just as it did over New Who. For example, we're bound to be reintroduced to the idea that the Time Lords established rationality in the universe, maybe name-checking the Division as part of their interference. I also stand by my previous theory that we're likely to eventually see Rassilon return after his exile in Hell Bent. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he served as the face of an effort to bring back the Time Lords in some form, opening up questions of their oppressive history (expect the Timeless Child's trauma to be emphasised) and whether the universe is better off without its fantastical elements suppressed, even if this does open the universe up to the dangers he fought like the Vampires, Carrionites, Great Old Ones etc. (Particular emphasis on the last of these, given it's sort of implied the only reason eg. the Great Intelligence isn't a full-power Cthulhu Mythos Yog-Sothoth is because of the Anchoring.) Perhaps the Sisterhood of Karn's newfound influence on Gallifrey in the wake of the Time War and Lungbarrow could play a role here.

#Doctor Who #DW Theory #DW Meta #RTD #Fifteenth Doctor #The Time War #The Flux #The Anchoring of the Thread #Rassilon #Wild Blue Yonder #Doctor Who EU

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variousqueerthings · 7 months

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TOP THINGS I'M EXCITED FOR IN THE NEW RTD RUN

getting the obvious out of the way, ncuti gatwa

but more specifically, ncuti gatwa is going in with such an exciting awareness of what he got out of doctor who and how that will inform his take

and both he and millie gibson are firmly taking doctor who into the next generation. I don't know a lot about her (and youknow, I'm getting older, so she seems awfully young, but that's really all I know and isn't enough to form an opinion on -- but susan vibes? hoping she won't be a rose!repeat, but I really really don't think that's the intention here), but gatwa is also next!gen whovian (like me), which is very fun. it's a nerdy show, I like it when nerds are involved

the wardrobe is looking so goooood. three also had quite an extensive repertoire especially, and this feels quite closely aligned with that campness (not specifically the exact style ofc, new doctor, but Vibes)

the other obvious out of the way, dtennant and catherine tate

specifically that there's a lot of potential in the 60th anniversary to properly wrap up ten's and donna's arcs in a way that organically interacts with the previous ending they had. some really fun potential to play with theme and genre in that, I'm a sucker for recontextualisation, and for dtennant having a bad time (but then maybe at the end... an okay time?)

I hope this will also more effectively merge the rtd run with moffat's and chibnall's. they did do a bit more of that as they went along, but I think they both went too hard on the reset button (especially moffat). we did then get some more... what I'll call continuity, but it took a bit (look, I know, the continuity is madness on this show, but I like to know it's the same story at least, and not totally excise what came before)

also donna has a kid now, played by yasmin finney. I'm excited for all of that, the fact that she's called rose, casting yasmin finney, another form of bringing it into the present, rather than it being all about the past, the fact that she's teased in the trailer, but there's so much more to see

speaking of casting -- camp and queerness! so many of the casting announcements have been queer actors, and you know rtd loves queering shit up, and he's got soooo much more freedom to do so now than he did in 2005. It won't just be in the casting, it'll be in the stories and the character-writing

references to classic!who and other dw!materials, as always, and of course rtd loves that. I just like how much of nu!who is having fun with classic!who. and updating it of course

I said it before but. I like watching dtennant be upset. he does it very well. perhaps even tears who knows...

EDIT: CONSIDERING THE NEW THEME SONG REVEAL ALSO FORGOT TO SAY MURRAY GOLD'S MUSIC!!!

some things I'm hoping for:

that the continuity of the last series won't be severed, especially in regards to the various regenerations that have been since ten

similarly that ten's arc interacts both with how they died/what happened with donna, and that they've been other bodies since then and so there has been growth and change, but what does that mean to a multi-lifed being?

that ruby and the doctor won't have a romantic will-they-won't-they and that generally the doctor continues to be a character through which those sorts of things can be interrogated (perhaps more deliberately now than in the past....)

that there will be some more ideas about gender, as has been increasingly played with over the last few years

that ncuti gatwa being black influences the kinds of stories being told in regards to what kind of history and future is important

that rose's part in the specials is important (I mean, even the fact that she's donna's kid is already important, but on her own as well -- that she gets something cool to do)!

that UNIT won't be toooo involved. I'm currently watching three from the start and I remember that UNIT does a lot in that one, and that's fine, I get that there's precedent. but also they're not my favourite part of DW, generally the doctor being associated with Institutions of a military nature. makes sense for three, who's relatively trapped on earth, and I like the way it's one of humanity's ways of reacting to alien life both in classic and nu!who, but never trust military. anyway, UNIT's fine for the specials, also ties in previous seasons with kate, but hoping won't be so much in ncuti gatwa's arcs. or that there's more conflict involved with them being involved

that new writers are brought onboard, especially women, black writers, and millennials

that it'll still be sincere. that it won't suffer from irony poisoning and over-reliance on references (don't think the latter is so much the issue), and that the bigger budget won't erode its ability to tell deeply personal intimate person stories, which has been an issue over the last few years and could be a problem in future. this isn't the show of massive explosions and michael by action, it's the show or a bunch of nerds who want to see practical effect aliens and cry about them

#doctor who #dw #david tennant #rtd #russell t davies #catherine tate #ncuti gatwa #millie gibson #the doctor has travelled with minors before -- not that millie is a minor #but we dont know how old ruby is yet do we?#and whether she's 19 playing 19 or 19 playing a 15 or 16 or 17 yr old #there's more im sure but off the top of my head this is it

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thelittlecoughsomewhere · 5 months

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I intend no harm to the original poster but I disagree fundamentally.

That's one of the main reason why I hated the bigeneration so much. Not a single actor who portrayed the Doctor deserves special treatment! NOT EVER! Tennant is not the Doctor. No one is. Tennant is not the best actor to ever play the doctor nor is he the biggest fan to ever play the doctor. (These things can't be objectively measured, for crying out loud.) And also if there was someone to exist who was the best Doctor (again they can't), no they shouldn't receive special treatment that sets successors up to fail.

Also, if I see one more person say it was a childhood dream of Tennant to play the doctor and that makes him special: Peter Capaldi was also a Doctor who fan since his childhood, and Peter was older than David when he got the role, so he was longer a fan than David and therefore a bigger fan! (This is meant sarcastically, in case you can't tell)

You can have your favourite Doctor. You can say this one is my Doctor. But no one is the Doctor.

Tennant doesn't deserve special treatment. Fourteen (or as I like to call him TenThree) should have regenerated with his friends on his side this time, and finally accepted regeneration: "It's time. Here we go again. Allons-y". That would have been beautiful. That would have given closure to the loneliness and grief of Ten. And on a Doylian level Tennant would have passed on the torch to Gatwa.

But no, the Tennant doctor doesn't cease to exist and Gatwa becomes another version of the Doctor. Gatwa isn't allowed to be a classical regeneration of the Doctor and I am so so so bitter about it.

I say this and I am a fan of Ten. He's probably my favourite Doctor. (I always say Ten is my favourite Doctor and Nine is my Doctor (don't ask me to explain the difference)). I'm also a massive fan of the RTD era(which is my favourite era). I haven't even watched all of Moffat's era. I only skimmed through the Chibnall episodes. I haven't watched Classic Who.

So imagine, just for a moment, what this special treatment RTD grants Tennant must feel like for Doctor Who fans who prefer the other eras of the show. I am angry on their behalf.

I like Tennant, he is a good actor and probably a nice dude but come on man. I must admit I have lost a little bit of respect for him for allowing the bigeneration to happen. He could have said "No, I don't deserve this special treatment and I won't come back for it, Russel. Give me a normal regeneration and let me pass on the torch."

And omg RTD, I really can't stand this man any more. He also comes across so smug when he talks about the bigeneration, it's infuriating.

#doctor who spoilers #doctor who #david tennant #fourteenth doctor

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allhailthemightyquattro · 5 months

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Got around to watching The Star Beast, so thoughts:

The good:

Donna Noble is back!

Murray Gold is back!

Love the opening credits. Best they've been since Matt Smith (Capaldi's credits weren't bad, but this sequence is better).

Beep is so cute! The special effects department/props department deserve all the praise.

Beep is so evil! Love to see my little war criminal embrace their megalomania.

Sylvia's reaction to hearing the Doctor's voice was priceless!

I love how they addressed trans issues. It didn't feel like a tv show telling us that they support trans people and that we should too. It felt like a tv show showing us trans issues. They had a trans character and their family facing problems that a trans person and their family could (and do) face in the real world, and they let the audience decide if they are okay with that happening or not. Showing people a particular side of an issue will always be more helpful than simply telling people that their side is wrong. The hardcore transphobes won't be swayed either way (and probably would only be watching to authenticate their hate) so addressing the issue with them in mind would have at best alienated the audience and at worst insulted them (looking at you last few minutes of Orphan 55).

I particularly liked that they included Sylvia's difficulty with knowing what to say to Rose. It's clear she loves her granddaughter exactly how she is (a great contrast between her treatment of Donna in series 4) but she doesn't know if she's doing things right. It's something that I don't often see addressed in internet fandom spaces, where every small slight is condemned as a terrible offense. Changing cultures is a learning curve.

I think they had a shot of Rose at Donna's wedding at the beginning, which helps (but doesn't really solve) the age issue. Donna started dating Shaun in 2009 and is not visibly pregnant at the end of that year, meaning 2010 is the earliest possible year Rose could have been born, making Rose 13 if this episode is set in 2023. Having the wedding scene from the End of Time be set after Rose was born helps with believing Donna could have been pregnant during that story.

The TARDIS looks pretty cool. I love the call back to the classic TARDISes.

The Doctor proudly proclaiming that Beep was defeated by the DoctorDonna as he holds Donna in his arms 🥹

Shirley Anne was awesome.

Donna's little speech about Wilf when convincing Sylvia to let her go, reminding us that Wilf also suffered a loss when Donna lost her memories.

The psychic paper not catching up and listing the Doctor as a "mistress".

Rose inheriting the metacrisis. There is a catch to this that will be explained in the next section, but by and large I loved the idea.

The not-as-good:

I was hoping for a few more non-RTD references considering it's the 60th anniversary. I know we still have two more specials to go, so I should be patient, but it's still a little disappointing.

I'd hoped they would do something a little different than the comic. The comic is great, so this isn't really a bad thing, I'd just hoped for something more.

Having the metacrisis be a reason for Rose's transness (is that a word?) wasn't great. Everything else about the reveal was great - the toys, the shed, her name - but her gender being part of that just cheapened the issue they were doing so well with. Just for the sake of being clever. I suppose you could say they were making a point about time lord gender, but that point has been made. It got made years ago. It wasn't needed.

For most of the episode, Finney being older than her character didn't bother me... except when they showed her friend, who was played by someone much closer her character's supposed age. The age difference was very hard to ignore in those scenes.

Beep mentioning "the boss". Very menacing and very foreboding... but the Most High does not have a boss. The Most High is the most high and death upon whoever says otherwise!

Donna and Rose just letting the metacrisis go kind of ruins her goodbye in Journey's End and is somehow both lazy and overthought. Sharing the metacrisis between two people would have been a convincing enough reason for it to not kill Donna. They had their fix it already. And it was a good one! They didn't need to add another, much worse one.

#doctor who #dw spoilers #doctor who spoilers #the star beast

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soggyteeshirt · 4 months

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guys can i be tremendously real and ask what the fuck is up with the pacing of recent doctor who episodes?

aside from the second 60th anniversary episode (which i think was fantastic) it cant just be me who thinks the episodes feel like cant really decide what they want to do, like its all over the place and cant really grasp the tension that older rtd episodes used to build? which also created a much more fluid episode as a whole, especially with the emotional impacts which i think is kind of lacking in recent episodes.

the last 60th anniversary episode did make me cry but only because i am an avid fan who is emotionally connected to the 10th doctor and donna, not a casual fan and i think thats whats really lacking and is making people turn away from doctor who now because its a little hard to connect when the pacing is just so off.

i think this is different to why people stopped watching at jodies run because her stories werent as substantial and where they took the doctor as a character was a bit odd, but i think you can still get attached to 13 and her relationships with the companions ignoring that.

i really hope the pacing gets sorted in the new season because the episodes are okay, they just arent great. also i was really excited for ncuti after the last 60th anniversary episode and now i feel a little let down. im not even really a snob when it comes to doctor who and i dont expect it to be a complete masterpiece. an example of this is 12 being my favourite despite being relatively flawed but my connection to the characters is what makes that and i think capaldi's run is very emotional from the start and therefore i feel emotionally connected to them, which was hard to do for ncuti and the new companion. perhaps this is too early to call though and ill just have to wait and see, i do want to hear other peoples thoughts since i feel like people are either loving it or absolutely hating it.

#pls doctor who fans talk to me #doctor who #david tennant #ncuti gatwa #peter capaldi #bbc doctor who

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myothertardisisonthemun · 5 months

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I just watched the first Doctor Who 60th special. Here are my immediate, unprocessed thoughts:

I am still a little sceptical, but it is starting to feel like a return to form, one can definitely feel the RTD touches coming back. It's a little older, and of this age, but there's a familiarity there.

Anyway spoilers, here are some detailed thoughts:

Things I really liked:

- The opening landing of the Tardis, an alleyway somwhere in London, the spaceship crash very much 2005 era vibes.

-Donna missing all that. Of course she does.

- New tardis interior, it's nice, it's the very cutting edge minimalist feel to it, which is a different flavour from what we've had for a long time, (usually not what I like, but its) refreshing, yet it still very much echoes the past, and the first Davies era - I am reminded of the bit where he or the designer of the 2005 tardis said it was imagined as the top half of a sphere, here it's basically a full sphere.

And they just had to flex how much of it was a real large set, and its pyrotechnic capabilities. Also, it's got RBG.

- I thought the pacing was good. Was a little worried they would dwell on the regeneration mystery a bit at the start but instead they moved straight on, and the doctor started doing stuff

- they did the 13th's era "the aliens you think are the baddies aren't" but they did it well, rather than just ok.

- It was brave of them to include a transgender character - I am not from the UK, but from what I hear, there's controversy and fuss going on over there.

The was a bit near the end was a little clumsy (see next section), but this reminds me of RTD era one's deliberate casual inclusion of gay and bi characters during the 00s, which was a different era. This feels like that.

Many of this feels like RTD finding either unfinished business, or new bits to add to old themes, and it was nice to see. But now, on to the

Did not likes

- I didn't like that they fake outed on Donna's death. Remeber that era of the show where they were afraid to end things? The solution of the metachrisis being having a daughter and splitting is ok. I could sorta see where they were going, and why they did it...

But then, personally, I didn't like that sort of stuff that much in RTD, like the "doctor who space Jesus moment", or Donna magically gaining all that timelord knowledge from seemingly nowhere in the first place.

-the "male presenting timelord wouldn't think of this" bit seemed like a sexist jibe, come on, that's not really that feminist or progressive. Tbh, the whole bit where gender somehow mattered in an unclear way felt kinda clumsy to me. Maybe if it had been better set up earlier, without ruining the casualness if earlier character scences... idk.

-the sonic makes force fields now. They made it clear that it's not that instant or convenient, but will this get overused? Forgotten in future when it could be useful? Ruin future plots? Idk, it's always a risk adding a new power to the sonic.

Undecided:

The only thing I am uncertain about is we never saw Wilfred Mott again, bit he's apparently alive somewhere? The actor died, apparently they chose to make it that the character did not, but we still don't get to see him?

But for the first time in a while, this feels like an episode I would actually rewatch. In fact I'm looking forward to when I watch it again with my mum.

I'm actually feeling a little bit excited for doctor who again. I love that. I missed that.

#doctor who #doctor who 60th anniversary #doctor who 60th #donna noble #rose temple noble #my phone keeps correcting this to 'doctors who'

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being-of-rain · 5 months

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My thoughts on Wild Blue Yonder! A little late because the time between the 60th anniversary episodes almost exactly lined up with a visit from my girlfriend. We had a great time, and watched this episode together, but I didn't want to take enough time away from her to write this!

When I saw some EU fans joking about how the episode was going to be an adaptation of Scherzo, I wasn't prepared for how many similarities it had. And it was soooo good. I love some really fucking great Doctor Who. I loved the horror aspect, I loved the duologue aspect, I always love a mystery opening act where the Tardis team has to search for clues and theorise about where they've landed. Oh and a shape-shifter who takes on someone's whole identity and thoughts is a concept that always tickles my fancy.

One of the few nitpicks I have is that I'm not quite sure how the countdown/shifting corridors and the robot connect: if they're part of the same self-destruct system, why is the robot seemingly much older than the ship? If they're not part of the same system, why is there a countdown to the moment the robot presses the button? Why not just have the ship destroy itself, and why would the ship need to 'reconfigure itself to become a bomb' if it had a self-destruct? But (much like Heaven Sent, which the solitary shifting setting is reminiscent of,) the small logic hiccups don't really take anything away from how good the episode is.

A slightly larger nitpick is that the ending isn't the strongest, with the TARDIS coming back right when and where the Doctor was thinking that it should, and then the Doctor realising he picked the wrong Donna because of a miniscule detail (that the audience couldn't pick up on, so it feels a bit of a cheat and a cheap emotional shot). So some of RTD's most common flaws there, but again the negatives really don't stack up to much compared to the quality of the rest of it. Also, I didn't notice the Tardis screen at the end that showed a scan of Donna's arm until my rewatch, and, in classic me fashion, it put me in mind of a random Dr Who EU story. In this case, Project: Nirvana where the Doctor reveals that the Tardis automatically scanned someone coming onboard and flagged an eldritch-monster-shaped issue with her. It does make me wonder if the Doctor thought to scan Donna himself, or if the Tardis did it (and he took the credit, perhaps trying not to think about how he might never have noticed).

But that's enough with nitpicks, what are some other fantastic bits? The throwaway phrase "goosebumps like Braille" is rad as hell, and would've made a great episode title I think. I've had ideas before about the Doctor's compulsion to think and solve problems in front of him being a direct threat, so it was cool to see that idea here. The Doctor worrying about 'invoking a superstition at the edge of the universe' at the end was a vague but incredibly compelling hook for future plots, and infinitely more interesting than the Meep's final line from the previous episode. I love all the tiny subtle ways the not-things were off and unsettling, as well as all the ways that were so over-the-top that I was laughing through my shocked horror.

The Timeless Child and Flux references were fantastic peeling back of the Doctor's emotional walls, and it was nice tying in with what is technically the show's previous season, even though it came out 2 years ago now. Also... it's a little hard to mention those references without dunking on Chibnall in comparison, who didn't tap into the Doctor's emotional state anywhere near as intensely in several years as this episode did in one scene (You could tie this into the Doctor regenerates into what they need/opposite theories, with Thirteen being a relatively repressed Doctor and Ten Point Three being a relatively expressive Doctor). It was particularly nice to have the show actually establish what the consequences of the Flux actually were, because god knows Thirteen's episodes weren't interested in doing that. On my rewatch of series 13 a few months ago, I was amazed at how basically every element of the Flux is confused and contradictory, and at the end my brother and I were convinced that the Ood in the Division ship (or God Ood as we started calling him) must have reversed the very almost total destruction of the universe, because the show simply refused to acknowledge any of that destruction itself. I guess they split the difference and said half the universe. But unpicking the bizarre illogic of the Flux is a whole other post.

Keeping in mind that the next episode hasn't come out yet, Wild Blue Yonder feels wildly out of place in the middle of an anniversary trilogy. A trilogy where the bookends are RTD modern-day blockbusters filled with fan-favourite character returns and niche villains from the show's long history, and the middle is a limited-cast sci-fi psychological/eldritch horror. But that absurdity detracts from the episode in absolutely no way whatsoever.

And speaking of absurdity; the mounting hype and talk of big things happening in the next episode, on top of bringing back a long-forgotten old villain and a long-awaited new Doctor, is just making it more and more ridiculous that the episode is called The Giggle. I can't wait for it though, I'm really enjoying these specials.

#my thoughts #dw spoilers #donna #ten #suuuch a good episode #hard not to dunk on Chibnall when I say I'm enjoying TV Dr Who much more than I have in ages

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scriptscribbles · 9 months

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To give my general 13 Who feelings since I asked:

Ryan was my favorite Chibnall era companion though I suspect Tosin probably felt pretty burned by lack of material and hope he's on to better things that make him happier. He's quite a good actor IMO. Makes a lot of interesting choices when left to the background.

Dan and Graham were both quite charming but just not character types I need from stories right now. Dan also really suffered from not getting, like, any breathing room as a character. It ends up feeling like after Brian Williams, Chibnall needed a comfort older white dude in the TARDIS.

Yaz I like on paper but never felt like she got the focus or exploration the many interesting things about her deserved. Can You Hear Me was a very clever retcon to explain her lack of material in series 11 in addition to being poignant though it does totally change her from the character introduced in Woman Who Fell to Earth.

I like the idea of the Timeless Child and the opportunities it offers and relate a surprising amount to the whole forgotten child childhood trauma questions about identity, but think it stalled on examining that after the quite underrated Once, Upon Time.

Sacha Dhawan is a superb actor who elevated a lot but I did not care at all for the direction the Master was taken in. The lack of acknowledgment of Missy was painful, the Nazi stuff doubly so, and the redestriction of Gallifrey just annoying.

Jodie Whittaker is wonderful and very Doctory. I wish she could have played more range though and really wanted to see her play a fuller relationship plot because I love the Doctor in that kind of thing and think she'd have nailed it.

Loved the sonic. Didn't love the TARDIS. Liked series 12, apart from Spyfall part 2. Thought Resolution and Eve of the Daleks were fantastic. Complicated feelings about Flux and how it all in my view fell apart (well documented that Chibnall wrote it while it went and it shows). Thought series 11 was the right idea but didn't think it was good enough overall.

Really enjoyed writers like Vinay Patel, Ed Hime, Joy Wilkinson, Maxine Alderton, and Nina Metivier contributing, and even controversially Pete McTighe, though I wish they got a bit more polish the way RTD or Moffat added sparkle to their guest writers. It's probably not fair to expect Chris Chibnall to meet the dialogue crispness of two of the best living British TV writers who proceeded him. It's not that he's bad, but Moffat and Davies are really special talents on that front and a tough act to follow.

Thought the best director of the era was Nida Manzoor and hope they get her back. Also loved Wayne Yip again but sounds like he didn't love doing it.

Some episodes and elements I really liked but overall the era of modern Who I'm coolest on. Still would take it over several classic runs any day.

#doctor who

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rainingfishandfrogs · 1 year

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so i've been rewatching DW and i just finished the NYC-Dalek episodes in S3

and i think i finally understand what they were going for with martha jones and why it didn't work as well as it could've

i've been really paying attention to what the writing had for martha and a lot of it i think is really interesting and even necessary in terms of the overall RTD era story arc (stay with me)

more under the cut 'cause this got long

like...martha is supposed to be the opposite of rose and we're supposed to compare them:

both her parents are alive and in her life (even if they're divorced)

has siblings

no boyfriend when we meet her

not only finished high school but went to uni and is continuing her education even further as a medical student (rose dropped out and had to get a job)

doesn't feel stuck with her life

older than rose (i think martha's like 23? idk)

booksmart (rose is streetsmart)

dark complexion (rose is fair complexion)

a little more socially awkward compared to rose

*not as assertive and is more timid*

and i would argue sheltered bc her family is clearly on the wealthier side (one of the reasons i think she doesn't fight back physically very often and is so easy to kidnap)

and honestly i'm not mad at any of this - i think it feeds into ten's heartbreak and loneliness in interesting ways and S3 did not need a new rose we needed someone different for that heartbreak and loneliness to make the impact it did

it works well within the narrative and for ten's character arc (S3 helps make tentoo work imo)

HOWEVER

martha's character arc gets buried under her crush on ten and what he's going through

after the loss of rose for the audience the crush angle gets annoying fast - because we also miss rose and we miss how ten was with her! all the big smiles and laughing

S3 ten is so self-distructive but doesn't have a tyler woman to slap some sense into him and that's part of the point it just sucks that it's at the cost of the 1st black female companion and her character bc then her arc doesn't get as much focus as it should (mickey got better development in 2 episodes in a season with a bigger reoccuring cast than martha did in 12 with fewer main cast members)

martha's character journey i would argue is about learning to be brave and assertive in ways she's never had to be before (when we meet her she's the peacemaker of the family; she doesn't like confrontation) and i think making her a medical student is a great vehicle for that arc bc she'd have to learn how to do that anyway if she wanted to be a successful and effective doctor (compassion only gets you so far and martha jones is already quite compassionate)

BUT i think if the writing highlighted that more and gave her even more moments of learning to stand up for herself and taking charge without someone having to tell her to (aka ten) and leaned more into her booksmarts her character would've been even stronger than it got to be by the end of S3 (when she finally tells ten to f-off and let her do as she likes)

i love all the RTD era companions including the "side companions" (mickey, jack, wilfred) and yes rose is my favourite but i adore martha too and she deserved better than she got during S3 (thank god S4 and torchwood fixed some things)

i do think if the writers had just given her a little more in terms of influencing episodes and leaned more on her "traditional" intelligence (aka high education) and let her be less passive (oh my god is she passive!) then her arc wouldn't have been as buried as it feels when watching S3

because it's not a bad arc! not at all! it just needed more focus than her crush on ten

#martha jones #doctor who #tenth doctor #ten #meta #martha jones dw #dw rewatch #dw martha jones #character analysis #ten x rose #rose tyler #tenrose

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sallysellsseashellssundays · 1 year

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Apparently Martha Jones was supposed to appear in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures and Mickey Smith was supposed to be in Torchwood. Now that RTD is planning spin off shows again I can only imagine how many cool interconnected stories we are going to have with Doctor Who, I am so excited!!!

I’m wondering if David is returning to play Tentoo and if Billie will make a small cameo as Rose. She seems to have really enjoyed lying in the past about returning to the show and if she made a return for the 50th I don’t see why she wouldn’t make a really quick appearance for the 60th especially if DT and RTD are involved.

I feel like if other universes are somehow accessible again that would open up the idea of alternate versions of characters being able to interact with the Doctor maybe even if they’ve died in the OG universe (like Tosh, Owen, Ianto for example) you can bring them back and just say they’re from an alternate universe.

Also if they do end up fixing Donna’s memories I feel like that opens up the door for her to make appearances here and there in the future, and remembering how RTD had everyone back for Journey’s End I’m wondering if he’s planning a similar situation in the future with a finale with all the older companions or even older companions showing up randomly during a series.

#doctor who #torchwood #the sarah jane adventures #rtd era #tentoo #rose tyler #martha jones #donna noble #i just really feel like rtd had the vision of like a marvel type situation with everyone coming together in the past #it was a bit rushed in journey's end #but i feel like he could pull off a better version of it now #my ramblings

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intuitive-revelations · 6 months

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I'm not feeling super today, so am going to go ahead and watch some of Tales of the TARDIS to take my mind of it, since it's now available. Here's my thoughts in real time, though I'm just focusing on the new segments for now, since the rest is just an omnibus version of the original serial.

Earthshock:

Ah, we've got an MCU style 'Whoniverse' bumper now. Visuals are fine, though the music is a little disappointing IMO. I would have hoped for some variant on the theme music, maybe the middle 8?

I like the TARDIS flying across it forming a line though. Feels like a very deliberate similarity to Thirteen's logo.

I know it won't be in this series, but the fact they've included Eight's time vortex in the intro has me hopeful for the future, whether it would just involve Grace and/or Lee, or potentially something BF related. Given the omnibus nature of these episodes, probably the prior. The TV movie would be a pretty good length for it too.

Similarly, while the TARDIS set is obviously based on plenty other bits of the sets, I like that Eight's columns are included as a part too.

I'm curious about this whole setup. On one hand it feels a bit like the 'degeneration' stuff we're already seeing in the anniversary and Big Finish, but it also feels kinda Curator-related.

I quite like the 'theme baseline' soundtrack here with Five.

"I was fast asleep, in bed, I said goodnight to Nyssa..." Ah, I see the TeganNyssa agenda is still in play!

The subtitles say 'goodbye', but the line was definitely 'goodnight'... real time censorship... 😢

"We never really did this sort of thing did we"

"You didn't, not one line" ok, I see what you did there.

"This is the memory of a time machine, and it's reached out and remembered... us." Oh, 'tales of the TARDIS' indeed. So it's the TARDIS summoning the characters we see? Is it 'the' TARDIS, or some sort of echo? If the prior, then when is this taking place? I would say sometime in the future, but the TARDIS of course is non-linear.

"It's a remembered TARDIS", again still not sure as to the above. But kinda makes me think of a remembrance tank? Like someone tried to remember a TARDIS into existence, but it's incomplete.

"I'll do it for him"

Oh... the dynamic shift back to wide screen with Five holding Adric's badge crossfading over the episode?

Was the badge remembered into existence too?

"Maybe that's what a memory TARDIS is for?" "Therapy."

The Mind Robber:

Hm, the reused TARDIS cgi + stock background image makes me wonder a bit if this was the last-minute addition to the 60th line up RTD mentioned? Or maybe there just wasn't much budget, in which case fair enough, but it does feel like this series might have been done a bit quickly.

Aw, Jamie and Zoe!

So the memory TARDIS itself has unlocked their memories.

"I've missed him every day of my life, but I didn't realise it." 🥺

"What they did to use was unforgivable" phew. while I know this isn't meant to get too heavy, I was a bit worried for a second they were going to glance over the trauma of their memory wipes. Sure, it's been a lifetime since it happened, but I'm glad the pain of it is acknowledged.

"And I think we've been brought here to undo it?" So will this be permanent or not...?

"I'd still be with him now if I could." Jamie...

"Five daughters". Huh... I know this is a niche point, but that's a bit odd. He has multiple descendents who are McCrimmons (eg. Heather, from the DWA comics) so I'm a bit surprised a son wasn't mentioned.The Glorious Revolution also has at least eight children. I guess some sons could have died and Jamie just isn't mentioning them, or a daughter just passed their maiden name to their child, maybe out of wedllock. Plus he technically could still have more kids I suppose, even at an older age.

"Well, I have a son, a scientist. I named him James." "A-after me?" "I never realised it before, but... well, of course it was after you!"

President Romana is out. President Zoe is in!

"Where do we begin? And don't say Cybermen. I want to forget about the Cybermen." Ouch. Now I'm thinking about The World Shapers.

Again, I like these smooth format transitions.

"Well, whatever this place is, it's restored our memories, for good. I think all we need to do, if we want to come back here, is to close our eyes and remember it." Question answered I guess. Very hand-wavey to be coming out of Zoe, but I'll allow it I guess.

"Maybe we're in heaven." "I hope not, I'm a very busy woman."

"I wonder if [Victoria]'s still out there somewhere?" Ow...

"I hope she had a nice life." "I'm sure she did. I bet she thought of you every single day." Ow...again.

"Because there's one thing I know for sure, I will never, ever forget this again." I hope so, Zoe.

Vengeance on Varos:

Aw, this music introducing Six (if that is Six?) is so sweet!

"The Warrior Queen" so it's that version of Peri? Makes sense I suppose to avoid the extra confusion.

"You got old." "Mm, and bigger. And beardier. Oh time marches on Peri, even for a Time Lord." Hmm, this does imply the Six we see isn't aged due to temporal effects, as in Time Crash, but may have actually aged to this point. Combined with the lack of him wearing his coast, maybe it is the Curator after all? Of course, could be more of an 'imagined' Doctor given the memory TARDIS, but I'm leaning towards all the characters being real.

Ay, Medusa Cascade mention.

"Your story is far from over." "For both of us, Doctor." "Maybe? Maybe." Yep, definitely leaning towards the Curator. This definitely reads to me as the Doctor in some of their final incarnations.

"You've always been here. You never left. The TARDIS never forgets." Again, feels like it's the real TARDIS? Granted Six could be speaking more metaphorically, but still.

"Every night, I would look up at the stars and wonder, which one you were spinning round in the TARDIS and I'd ask myself... 'will I ever see him again?'" Oh no! I thought Peri seemed a bit sad, but was unsure if it was intentional - I thought it might have just been Nicola struggling a bit with doing the accent on screen again. But no, it very much is. She sounds heartbroken on this line. I'm sorry for doubting your acting Nicola!

Ooh, look at that transition again!

Oh, so "Warrior Queen" Peri did make it back to Earth? Cool they're set her up to be here, so she could have Earth-based appearances in the future, but does make me wonder how that overlaps with her other fates. It seems compatible with some of them, but not sure exactly where it sits.

Yrcanos is dead and Peri wants to revisit the memorial (on Krontep presumably) once a year. Apparently this aligns pretty directly with the Season 22 promo, which is great continuity. I guess this implies the Six she was travelling with there wasn't BF!Six, but this older incarnation?

Speaking of which, if he's willing to fly away in this memory TARDIS, once again that seems to suggest the Curator connection, potentially for the TARDIS as well.

The Three Doctors

Now Jo and Clyde!

Jo wrapped in Three's jacket!

I think the sonics, or at least some of them, are just the toys.

In their squabble, Jo mentions she's a great-grandmother now!

"I think they're all here. All of the Doctors. All of the companions."

"Sweet Sarah Jane." 🥺

"I heard, and I'm sorry." Oh... not long after Cliff died then.

"So tell me how you all are: you, Luke, Rani." Ah here's the important stuff!

Luke and Sanjay are in space with UNIT.

Clyde got his comic adaptation! I saw that the movie gets dropped at some point, but now he still gets it as a TV series. That's nice.

Rani's still a journalist. Particularly focused on climate, which Jo loves.

Clyde seems really sad about them all being apart. I guess the Clani will-they-won't-they continues...

No Sky mention... on one hand, makes sense given Jo never knew her, but still a little disappointing, if good for us from a Class: Ongoing writing level. It seems overall RTD is working under the idea that Series 5 was finished, and Sky's 'ascension' in Battle of Bannerman Road happened (hence the 'manifest in human form' thing in Farewell, Sarah Jane).

Obviously it's referencing Hartnell not being present for most of the events, but "2 and a half Doctors" kinda feels like a wink towards Devious.

Aw, Clyde mentioned meeting the Brig to Jo.

"And that's why I'm telling you now, you have got to tell her." "Tell who...what?" "Oh Clyde, don't play games with me."

If you love Rani, you just jolly well go and tell her." AHH!!!

"Oh, stories are important Clyde. We're made of stories, and you're missing the most important one of all."

The ending with Jo holding the Metabelis crystal and seeing Cliff...

The Time Meddler

Steven and Vicki!

They've both got grandkids now.

"And now look - I've got my little sister back!"

They both want to see the Doctor so much...

Pfft, Steven questioning if it's the Doctor's TARDIS because of Six's coat! It's quite a nice choice though, given the episode included featuring the Monk.

Once again, a nice transition with the clock.

The echo of the Monk screaming is a little creepy.

The Monk's dimensional controls! Of course they'd still be in the TARDIS.

"I was an orphan and he became my family. I became the granddaughter he'd lost." Man they're really emphasising the found family here.

"He talked of you for all the time I knew him."

Hmm. "He's probably watching us on some monitor somewhere." then showing the camera view of them, really does make me wonder if a Doctor is in another part of the TARDIS.

"He's as much a part of the TARDIS as this is."

"You know I think of him everyday. I always have. If I could have one wish in all the universe at this moment, it would be to see him again." "Yeah."

Again the ending, with them wishing to see the First Doctor... 🥺

You know the metaphysical emphasis on everything here, kind of makes me think of the metaphysical engine... The dimensions of the TARDIS set are quite similar too.

The Curse of Fenric

Oh I realise that space backgrounds different now. Possible they were changing throughout, but this is the time I've noticed. The animation on the TARDIS seems the same though.

Something very forboding about showing "The History of the Time War", even though it wasn't part of Seven's era. Makes sense though, between his own manipulations and Ace's role in Gallifrey: Time War.

Ace is in her business suit again. Outside of a loose continuity, and building on the leading ACE thing, I'm not sure why they keep going with this.

However, that rainbow badge. I see you Ace.

Ace instinctively putting on the Doctor's hat.

Seven and Ace are so cheerful to see eachother!

"Last time I saw you, you were a hologram. But you're here, you're real!" Nice direct reference to PoTD. So this is afterwards for Ace. Makes sense. The Doctor seemingly acknowledging this however... I would say more Curator proof but...

"You've got old." "Time streams are funny things. In some, I regenerate, in others I don't. It's all a matter of perspective." WAIT WHAT? I guess that seemingly debunks my theory, but this raises a number of questions. So we're in more of a Dark Dimension situation? That being said, the Doctor recognises that it's a "matter of perspective", so is it an older Doctor temporarily in Seven's form? Or an actual alternative timeline Seven? Or the Seven we know, just referring to having aged beyond what he was like during regeneration due to the temporal differential?

Hell, to combine my theory in with this. Is how the Curator's fluid regenerations work? He's shifting between time streams in which past incarnations lived beyond their regeneration?

All this being said. Weirdly fitting to include this here, given Ace's various possible lives.

"This is a memory TARDIS, a special place where old friends come together to share stories, to remember. And to comfront difficult truths..."

Ace doesn't want to talk about Fenric...

"So many lives were ruined." "Others were set in motion." Ah there's the Seven i remember.

"Dangerous undercurrents."

I remain unclear on the current version of Ace's timeline. Apparently when they last parted under bad circumstances (as implied in PotD) he intended to leave her in London, but left her in Ontario instead.

"To be fair, we did have a very busy day, as I remember. Yes. Oh, yes. The Rani was up to her old tricks." Ay, Rani mention. For a sec I thought it was a Dimensions in Time reference.

Ace's voice breaking, talking about her Nan...

"I loved you, you know. Like the Dad I never had. I've never said that before, but I did. I still do."

Seven's reaction as Ace calls him her Dad. You can see him visibly biting his lip 🥺

"And I love you."

Quoting Survival!

I love them both having to jump up to reach the higher controls.

Seven accidentally hurting himself playing the spoons is the perfect way to end.

Overall thoughts

Well this was lovely! I know I shouldn't take it too seriously, as it's just an in character intro to old stories, in the same way I wouldn't take eg. the intro to DotD that seriously, but I do appreciate some of the extra story we get. For a start, Jamie and Zoe gaining their memories back, if it is permanent, is huge! As is Jo encouraging Clyde to speak to Rani.

In general, the continuity difficulties you'll always encounter with these stories with the old companions seem to work out. Again, still not sure what to make of with Ace, at least as someone who very much likes her going to Gallifrey. That being said, they did kind of hint at her Time War history, so who knows?

Obviously the memory TARDIS and the returning classic Doctors are great, but I do remain curious on what they 'mean' in-universe. It definitely feels like something that could be spun out into a greater story.

Overall, very sweet, and very emotionally satisfying, sometimes more than I expected! The emphasis on everyone relationships, the found family of it all, was also brilliant.

The best way I can summarise it is by going back to the first episode and what Five and Tegan say there:

Everyone: Go to therapy. Doctors and Companions: No!!!1 The TARDIS:

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variousqueerthings · 6 months

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gosh you know, considering just how many companions the doctor travelled with that were women and how many of them are coming back to this, it's so fascinating to have so many older women gathered as The Faces of one of the most iconic pieces of television in history

and it feels like with the novels and big finish and bringing sarah-jane back in rtd's era, it's really been building to this moment of appreciating the companions (including in this case jamie and steven + clyde from sarah-jane chronicles, and previously ian as well), and that means celebrating these women who at times were not given the kind of depth they deserved to work with in the story and at times were treated with sexist contempt, but they're really being told now how important they always have been, and the fact that they've come back I hope also shows how much affection they have for the story, and especially for their particular "doctors"

it's exciting how embedded they are becoming in the current-day arcs, and of course several of them have been on the show these last years, and many have been on big finish

it's just so cool to see their faces -- the faces of science fiction television are for the most part this fantastic group of women

#doctor who #dw #me watching jo with the third doctor right now and seeing jo in nu!who having an emotion #they deserve all these accolades so much

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darksideofparis · 5 months

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DOCTOR WHO SPOILERS

Can we agree Bi-Generation was a stupid idea? Felt like a very..cheap and anticlimactic way to introduce Ncuti as 15 and him having to spend his first few post Toymaker moments comforting and supporting "14" (*cough* 10.3 *cough*) felt like a disservice to Ncuti's start as The Doctor and a lazy way to keep David in and appease the idiots who have been making racist remarks about Ncuti.

Sidenote- Love and hate 15 acknowledging that Sarah Jane is gone

Yes, I HATE the bi-regeneration plot! To those who love the plot, please be warned a rant about this whole thing is below, in case you want to avoid it.

It has literally never been mentioned (to my knowledge, at least) in any Whoniverse material in the last sixty years, so what the hell is RTD doing just dropping it in now? The basics of regeneration have been, more or less, a constant since the very first one.

Honestly, RTD, if it ain't broke, DON'T FIX IT!

I agree, this was nothing more than shameless fan-service to appease not just the racists making disparaging remarks against Ncuti (and it should be noted, that while they're vocal, it is literally a minority of people who feel that way) as well as to appease all the fans who were crying about not wanting to see David Tennant go again.

Look, I love David Tennant. He is a phenomenal actor and anything he's in is guaranteed to be good, or at least he will be amazing in it, but seriously. Enough DT. When the seventieth comes around, I don't want him in it. Let someone else have some time to shine. This whole bi-generation and letting 14 stick around defeats the entire purpose of regeneration and the show as a whole. To quote Peter Capaldi's Doctor, "Everything ends, and that's always sad. But everything begins again too, and that's always happy."

In addition, the whole thing, in my opinion, takes the attention off Ncuti. Just like Jodie Whittaker's regeneration, the whole thing is overshadowed by DT's Doctor. Ncuti absolutely shined in the scenes he was in, but we didn't get all the classic hallmarks of post-regen Doctors: the regeneration sickness, the outfit picking, seeing the TARDIS for the first time, etc. Instead, 14 sees 15's new jukebox-holding console room. We don't really get a reaction from 15. And that's really disappointing and just insulting.

I don't object to the idea of the Doctor pausing travels for a while to come to terms with everything that's happened to them, but are we really supposed to believe 14 spends the rest of his days living in the copy TARDIS in Donna's backyard? A few weeks or months would be plausible, but I can't buy the rest of his days, watching Donna and the others grow older and eventually die.

Back to the whole bi-regeneration itself. . . The whole thing is never really explained. All they say in the episode is that it was considered a myth on Gallifrey. But what specifically does it entail? Are 14 and 15 two completely separate individuals now? When 14 dies, is that it? Would he regenerate into 15? And if so, would that mean there's just now two separate Doctors running around or would he somehow merge with his future self? Is it a time loop of some kind?

Just. . .really annoying. If RTD is going to introduce a game-changing concept, the least he could do is spend five minutes explaining it to the audience, instead of leaving us to do guesswork.

This just really sucks, because I LOVED 'The Star Beast' and 'Wild Blue Yonder'. The first half of this episode was *chef's kiss*. But then the last half fell flat. Too reminiscent of the Chibnall era, in my opinion: introduce a shocking new concept but spend very little time properly explaining/having the characters reacting to it. The Toymaker wasn't as much of a threat as he was hinted to be, though Neil Patrick Harris definitely had fun with the role, lol. It would have made far more sense if he was responsible for 14's face coming back as some kind of twisted gameplay, instead of some lame "It was you coming home".

And, on a purely selfish note, how the hell am I supposed to write my OCs in this, lol?!? Do they stay with 14 or go off with 15? Lol, long time away though in my writing, so maybe we'll actually get some concrete resolution/explanation about bi-regeneration before then.

Okay, rant over. With the caveat that I, too, love/hate them acknowledging Sarah Jane is gone.

#dragonfire-system #doctor who spoilers #doctor who

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abumblebeeat221b · 2 years

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i think part of what makes Donna’s story so interesting is that she’s maybe the most realistic companion we had since 2005. she isn’t society’s typical role model of the successful woman, in fact if anything, she’s the opposite. she has an unstable job, she’s trying and failing to find love in a world where society is holding her age and her looks against her. even when she FINALLY is about to get married and she’s so close to ticking off one of the many boxes society is expecting her to - her fiance decides to feed her to some huge spiders on her wedding day. Rose, at least still had her whole life ahead of her, while society has been telling Donna since her thirties that she’s running out of time.

and then Donna meets the Doctor and she does what any sensible human being with more than an ounce of common sense would do in that situation: she takes a look at all that destruction and declines having another adventure. who wouldn’t? her fiance died on her wedding day, she has a bunch of relatives who have to hear some sort of plausible version of the events, one which doesn’t involve strange, glowing particles, giant spiders and a trip to the very beginning of planet earth in a time machine looking like a box belonging into some sort of museum.

time has taught her how to take responsibility and make the best of the cards life deals her. it’s why, once the dust settles and she regrets her decision, she takes things into her own hands. life isn’t happening to her - she’s happening to life. and then, she does what we usually see the Doctor doing: she starts investigating strange phenomena in the middle of London - and quite successfully so. IF the Doctor hadn’t shown up, she still would have learnt several things about Adipose Industries without his help, the TARDIS, or a sonic screwdriver. no wonder, she and the Doctor make such a perfect team.

and even after losing her memories, she’s still carrying on. of course her life becomes small and meaningless in comparison, but honestly, i’m not sure i’m ready to see RTD rewriting her ending. because her losing her memories feels so typically human. after all, who doesn’t feel a secret longing for something they cannot put into words when looking at the stars - just as if we had forgotten something big that used to be part of us? who isn’t curious and utterly fascinated by all the incredible things which must be out there? i cannot be the only one who think it’s funny how a bunch of scientist point their instruments at some corner of the sky for a really long time and we - the whole planet, pretty much all of humanity - find the results breathtakingly beautiful.

imho Donna was the most human human companion this show (or at least NewWho) had, and the older i become the more i appreciate the story RTD gave her.

#not to mention #Catherine Tate #was the perfect fit for the role #doctor who #RTD #series 4 #look #i am as excited as any other fan for Tate and Tennant coming back for the special #but i'm still kind of sad about RTD changing her story because IMHO it's already perfect #donna noble

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